


What Might Have Been, What May Yet Be

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Series: Assorted Narnia Crossovers and AUs [8]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Advice, Alternate Universe - Magic, Conversations, Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-09
Updated: 2013-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-10 05:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2012076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You have been touched by the Deep Magic.  Few emerge unchanged from such an encounter."</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Might Have Been, What May Yet Be

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for **Doctordolly** in the [Three Sentence Ficathon 2013](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/148732.html) hosted by [caramelsilver](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com) on Livejournal, in response to the [prompt](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/148732.html?page=7#t3751676): _Narnia, Edmund's encounter with the White Witch turns him into a mage_.
> 
> As you can see, it's somewhat longer than three sentences. Oops?

No one save Aslan knew what had become of the Witch's stone knife, nor the hilt of her wand, but Edmund kept the upper portion. She had bequeathed it to him when she rammed it through a gap in his armor, drenched its carvings in his blood, and so it was his: a poor cousin to the gifts his siblings had received, but his all the same. It felt right and necessary in his hand the way his borrowed sword had not, and sometimes a shivery, silver spark leapt from its tip when he touched the night-black stone, as if he were a battery that brought it to life.

He had eaten the Witch's food, gone willingly into her service. Had she left some trace of herself behind? Had he broken or woken something best left undisturbed inside himself? If he kept the wand, did that make him corrupt, mean he had learned nothing from his trials?

"You have been touched by the Deep Magic. Few emerge unchanged from such an encounter," Aslan said when Edmund took his worries to the Lion the night before the coronation. "Whether the change is for good or for ill is in your hands. All gifts are granted for a purpose, but you are not obligated to accept. Your choice is yours alone."

Edmund held the shattered wand before him, resting on his open palms. "I don't want to be like her," he said. "Her magic was wrong. What she did with it was wrong. But Lucy's cordial and Susan's horn are good, so there must be ways to use magic better. And if we'd had someone to fight with spells as well as swords, we might have ended the battle sooner, with fewer deaths. Mightn't we?"

Aslan's mane smelled warm and sweet as he walked beside Edmund through the corridors of Cair Paravel. "You cannot change what might have been, child, only what may yet be."

Edmund thought about that for a minute. Then he closed his right hand around the wand. "I accept the gift."

Aslan stopped as they reached a turn in the corridor and placed one heavy, velvet paw on Edmund's shoulder. "So be it. Magic is a hard and dangerous road, but it need not be lonely, nor need the journey end in despair. Bear your power well, Edmund Pevensie."

Edmund stood tall under Aslan's regard, trying his best to live up to what the Lion saw in him. "Thank you, sir," he said. "I will."

And so he did.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The First Spell of the Just](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11389659) by [Dawen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawen/pseuds/Dawen)




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